Chai, Chai....

Certainly! The text to remember is: "CHAI, CHAI.....from Biswanath Ghosh". 

"Yes, you have guessed correctly. You are on a railway station platform in India."

A unique journey is the act of tying two things together, much like tying a knot. A railway junction is where two railway lines are connected, creating a knot. In countries like India, railway junctions link big cities by rail. At a railway junction, a long-distance Indian Railways train typically pauses for about 5 minutes, during which time hawkers loudly offer 'Chai Chai'. Some passengers might disembark to stretch their legs, purchase magazines, food, and of course, enjoy a hot cup of tea. The hustle and bustle of the railway junction begins as a train arrives, and numerous trains from almost all parts of the country arrive at the junction every day. The junction serves as an intermediate point for most passengers, providing a respite from the monotonous long train journey. However, as passengers, we seldom consider the life just outside the junction—the town and its people.

Biswanath Ghosh, the author of the travelogue "Chai, Chai," visits the following towns with railway junctions: Mughal Sarai, Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh), Itarsi (Madhya Pradesh), Guntakal (Andhra Pradesh), Jolarpettai, Arakkonam (Tamil Nadu), and Shoranur (Kerala).

Bishwanath Ghosh's book 'Chai, Chai' depicts the village outside the railway junction. From the book's cover, the picture of the clay pot filled with tea and the photo of the railway tracks tell a lot about the book.

Mughalsarai is said to be the largest railway yard in Asia or the landing place to go to Benaras. Faith and curiosity are two main things that usually bring people to this holy city. Mughalsarai station is as big as the village but small. It is also the birthplace of Lal Bahadur Shastri, the second Prime Minister of India. Ghosh visits Shastriji's birthplace and school in that railway colony. Recently, Mughalsarai station was renamed as ' Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Junction'.

Jhansi. Historically, Jhansi has special importance because of its queen Lakshmibai. But Ghosh writes that another characteristic of Jhansi is the Elite chauraha (square) in Jhansi. How the square got its name and the characteristics of the square can be read in the book. Elite Square, the island is also a nucleus of India as far as the Road map is concerned. Vehicles headed from one corner of India to another, be it Ahmedabad to Asansol or Kashmir to Kanyakumari have to touch the Elite intersection. Then he visits Jahangir Mahal in Orchha near Jhansi and the world-famous Khajuraho which are in Madhya Pradesh, while Jhansi is in Uttar Pradesh.

Pani puri, gol gompa, natasha, and phuchka are some of the local delicacies on the roadside vendors, near and away from the station. Wonder, did all these exist at the time of  Rani Laxmi Bhai?

Itarsi is a junction point in the navel of India. Crossing the Vindhya mountain range that separates North India from South India, the train stops at Hoshangabad district and reaches Itarsi. It was a place of Inta ( Bricks) and Rassi  (Rope). Ropes are no longer made here but brick kilns still thrive. 

Railway Junctions drive the village economy. Most of the long-distance trains have transformed into self-sufficient, mobile towns providing you with everything. Railways no longer need these functions, but the towns that have grown around these junctions badly need Railways.

‘Magodas are pagodas made of moong dal, served with mint chutney is a specialty of Itarsi.

Guntakal in Andhra Pradesh is a junction connecting West India and South India. Guntakal is an important junction for trains from Mumbai to Chennai, Bengaluru. Syed Mastan Ali Baba Dargah near Guntakal is a famous place here. It was also a transit point for the export of Iron ore from Bellary to Chennai/ Kakinada ports and then shipped to Japan. Textile mills, once famous in and around Adoni, are mostly faced out. Rly. Sleepers factory still functions.

Arakkonam and Jolarpet . Arakkonam is a place without its own identity. A suburb of Chennai, he realizes that there is nothing to see here except the railway station. Upon further investigation, it is learned that Arakkonam has a naval base and the airstrip at this base is the largest in the world. Airplanes take to the sky from this runway to demonstrate the traffic in Delhi on Republic Day. 

Jolarpet is a midway junction on the Chennai-Bengaluru railway line. It is an important junction point for trains going to Karnataka, South Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. Jolarpet Junction is mentioned in a story in 'Malgudi Days' by RK Narayan. Apart from the railway station near Jolarpet village, another place to see is `Yelagiri' hill station. Yelagiri cannot be compared to Ooty or Kodaikanal, because the height of this hill station is not that much. The importance of Jolarpet Junction in terms of Railways is that it is the place that brings together the three Rly Division sections of Salem, Chennai, and Bangalore. The massive Railway overbridge from the station that connects to the town is an attraction. The author had a feast to his eyes while crossing over when he saw a monkey and a dog halted his way with an eye ball-to-eye confrontation positioning in such a way as to who will make the first move; the monkey with an extended tail was holding an electrical rope wire and dog barking at an edge of the iron post. Luckily some burqa-clad women shooed away ending the drama of the timepass onlookers.

Shoranur. Towards the end of the book, we reach Shoranur Junction in Kerala, on the banks of River Bharatapuzha- Kerala’s equivalent to Ganga.  The trains from North Kerala to Mumbai, Delhi, etc., pass through this junction. Shoranur was the Mughal Sarai of Kerala once upon a time. Shoranur was not of much importance during the pre-independence period until the South Indian Railway Company started long-distance trains between Madras and Mangalore. After the railway service started between Madras (now Chennai) and Mangalore (now Mangaluru), the King of Kochi requested South India Railway Company to take this train to Kochi and Shoranur station became important. 

 Ghosh visits the 'Kerala Kalamandalam', an experimental art center founded by Malayalam poet Vallathol Narayan Menon in 1930 across the Bharatpuzha River. The journey from Mughalsarai to Shoranur was made by Bishwanath Ghosh to see the village outside the railway junction, but the train journey from Shoranur to Nilambur was made to experience the journey. A railway line winds its way through green grass surrounded by towering teak trees. After traveling for two hours, the train reaches the last station, Nilambur. Ghosh travels back to Shoranur by the same train in no time, as he cannot find anything new in his itinerary.

Ghosh makes some hilarious and interesting observations:

 At the start of the journey from Gorakhpur to Trivandrum, the ‘daily passengers’ and ‘ office goers’ and students will make you feel as if your seats ( Reserved berths) rightfully belong to them. The land you are passing through, after all, belongs to them. Towards the end of the journey, however, you will encounter an entirely different kind of ‘daily passengers’- shy Malayali men and women who try very hard not to invade your privacy. The reversal of ‘ might is right’ “begins at Itarsi, a big Rly junction.

He finds the ‘sameness’ in Kerala. You may be in Shornur a small village or in a big town, Kochi. You get the same items and similar attitudes of the people. At a saloon, he encountered a strange question with no clue: "Why do Bengalis still use surnames that indicate caste? We used to do it in Kerala 50 years ago. But you people still use Mukherjee, Chatterjee, and so on despite more than three, or four decades of communist rule!".

The journey of the book ``Chai Chai'' actually ends here. But a new journey begins in the mind of the reader, by creating curiosity about another. 

This book is a one-time read or "Timepass", to get a feel of small towns, their people, and railway stations/ junctions. Sure that each of us has a different tale and experience to share on train journeys.